GoldSpider:Malacon: I want to see Tammy Duckworth in the mix. Not because I think she's the best option (I don't know who is) but just because I want to see the fallout from Trump attacking her.

Like the fallout after he attacked McCain, the Khans, and every other time he's punched down in the last 3 years? Yeah, totally worth it.

Hey, this is not germane to this thread, but I'd like to apologize to you.

Some time ago I called you out as a "color animal" poster, which is a sort of troll account that was fashionable for a while on FARK. It is obvious from the posts I have seen you make in the last few days (well, months) that I was out of line and wrong.

I am sorry and I am sorry about that. I believe in contrition and making amends. I hope you can forgive me.

casual disregard:Some time ago I called you out as a "color animal" poster, which is a sort of troll account that was fashionable for a while on FARK. It is obvious from the posts I have seen you make in the last few days (well, months) that I was out of line and wrong.

I am sorry and I am sorry about that. I believe in contrition and making amends. I hope you can forgive me.

Heh, yeah, I can be an asshole here and a grade-A irritant, but I'm not THAT asshole. So I'm not sure that really puts me ahead. But we're cool; I don't even have you farkied for anything, so the offense couldn't have been that egregious. Keep on farkin!

There is no way anyone even has an educated guess who the nominee will be at this point. There's going to be a large field of democrats gearing up for the primaries starting now, who will prevail is anyone's guess. Two years out is too early for this.

Malacon:GoldSpider: Malacon: I want to see Tammy Duckworth in the mix. Not because I think she's the best option (I don't know who is) but just because I want to see the fallout from Trump attacking her.

Like the fallout after he attacked McCain, the Khans, and every other time he's punched down in the last 3 years? Yeah, totally worth it.

I see your point, but I think Duckworth would actually punch back.

I do too. I also think Duckworth would make a very good nominee, maybe with Beto as VP.

Her political views shift with the weather. Running for AG? Suddenly pro-Cop. Running for Senator? Suddenly more liberal. Considering running for President? Suddenly cares deeply about the kinds of abuse by cops and prosecutors that she ignored as AG.

shastacola:There is no way anyone even has an educated guess who the nominee will be at this point. There's going to be a large field of democrats gearing up for the primaries starting now, who will prevail is anyone's guess. Two years out is too early for this.

Yep. You never know who is going to let out a "Yeehaw" scream during a rally and destroy their chances.

I don't know that a Harris/Beto ticket makes the most sense, but Beto has a strange political future...he could run for TX Senate in 2020, but he'd probably lose because it's Texas, and losing it by a larger margin than this week's race would probably tarnish him a touch. Can't run for governor either, because it's Texas, so there are a limited number of upward paths.

If he doesn't get the presidential nod, the vice presidential slot might not be his worst move. Not many VPs ascending from that position in recent decades, but he could play the Biden role of hype man/attack dog as well as anyone while burnishing his own profile.

Did I hear the sound of chickens being counted before eggs were even laid?

Never. Ever. Underestimate Donald "President Snapchat" Trump. His odds of a second term were great the day he was sworn in, they've been good ever since, and they got a huge boost last Tuesday.

See, the thing is, the 2016 election was really important. Not the kind of thing you wanted to jerk around with chasing utopia and hating on Democrats. Do overs are good and everything, but you don't get them often, if ever, in Electoral politics.

Print'sNotDead:Did I hear the sound of chickens being counted before eggs were even laid?

Never. Ever. Underestimate Donald "President Snapchat" Trump. His odds of a second term were great the day he was sworn in, they've been good ever since, and they got a huge boost last Tuesday.

See, the thing is, the 2016 election was really important. Not the kind of thing you wanted to jerk around with chasing utopia and hating on Democrats. Do overs are good and everything, but you don't get them often, if ever, in Electoral politics.

Trump is screwed if he keeps Pence as his VP and he is screwed if he doesn't do so. Pence is a hundred percent for Trump's policies but Pence see's it as his destiny to replace Trump in a 25th amendment scenario. He is just looking for a way to do so without losing Trump's base come his reelection.

On the other hand, if Trump dumps Pence he likely loses a significant part of Pence's evangelical supporters, especially in the rust belt and in the midwest. That could cost him Ohio and Michigan.

winedrinkingman:Trump is screwed if he keeps Pence as his VP and he is screwed if he doesn't do so. Pence is a hundred percent for Trump's policies but Pence see's it as his destiny to replace Trump in a 25th amendment scenario. He is just looking for a way to do so without losing Trump's base come his reelection.

On the other hand, if Trump dumps Pence he likely loses a significant part of Pence's evangelical supporters, especially in the rust belt and in the midwest. That could cost him Ohio and Michigan.

I can't agree with either.

Pence is getting everything he wants whenever he wants it, because (a) Trump is totally uninterested in actual governing, and (b) Trump's flagrant crimes mean that Pence's godbothering barely even cracks the public consciousness, instead of being a major part of the narrative around this administration.

On the other hand, I can't imagine a single white Midwestern Republican deciding they won't support Trump any more because he chose some other VP. Pence helped ease the transition from religious-right conservatism to full-blown nihilistic authoritarianism, but that transition is made. They don't care. They're on the Trump Train for good.

I do think Trump keeps Pence though, if only because he's lazy and Pence now knows where too many bodies are buried to leave him as a loose end.

Print'sNotDead:See, the thing is, the 2016 election was really important. Not the kind of thing you wanted to jerk around with chasing utopia and hating on Democrats

"Waaaaah we fielded a really shiat candidate who was widely hated by her own party. No one could ever have predicted her loss, except all the people who tried to warn us, but why would we listen to those sexists? Unicorns! Ponies! Socialists!"

If the election was that important, maybe in the primaries you should have voted for someone who wasn't polling to lose to all of the possible Republican candidates, except Trump.Maybe you should have listened to the people warning you about her unpopularity and the risk it posed in the general, instead of whining that "it wasn't fair" that people hated her. Maybe you shouldn't have bet on bullying, harassing, shaming, and insulting people into voting for a shiatty triangulating warmongering war criminal-loving fake progressive corporate whore whose party betrayed or abandoned their base.

I think Trump is going to win 2020, if he chooses to stand.

Why? Because all you have is this. Whining. Crying about Trump. Doing nothing. Even worse, doing the same thing and not thinking it's madness. Blaming everyone but the Democratic Party for their failure. It was the Russians. It was sexism. It was Jill Stein. Stomping your feet and whining that you shouldn't have to win votes, you should just be given them. Writing off anyone who you have failed to convince to vote for you as "deplorables" or "traitors" who you will not talk to.

TWO WHOLE YEARS of unrelenting screeching about Russian collusion. Two whole years of loudly proclaiming the apocalypse. And most importantly, two whole years of Trump being Trump, with all his bigotry and stupidity and awful policies out of full display for everyone to see.

And still, at midterms, you couldn't even convince half the country to bother to vote. That's how pathetic the Democrats are.

Now, in another two years, do you think people will be paying more or less attention to the squealing?

How about the Dems get a strategy? That would be nice.

According to Nancy, the strategy is "bipartisan unity bipartisan godblessamerica". Good luck.